


A Case of Mistaken Identity

by elenei



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drunken Shenanigans, F/M, Mistaken Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 11:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19083739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elenei/pseuds/elenei
Summary: Arya drinks a little too much, Gendry doesn't drink enough and his sisters try to do damage control.





	A Case of Mistaken Identity

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on Tumblr but I figured I should post it here too.

She decided to kiss him as a shot of tequila was burning a fiery path down her throat. It settled in her stomach filling Arya with the kind of resolve you only got from alcohol. A lot of alcohol. Arya had lost track of the number of drinks she had put back but it was probably one too many.

The room was spinning and the part of Arya who had been nearly drowned with countless shots (and one of Hot Pie’s special brownies) knew she should find a quiet place to sit with a glass of water but wasted Arya had made up her mind.

“I need to find Gendry!” Arya announced loudly to her friends. 

“Oh my god,” Wylla replied in an equally loud voice. “Are you gonna finally confess that you’ve loved him forever?”

“And that you wanna have his babies?” Lyanna added wrapping her arms around their green haired friend.

“No!” Arya yelled over the music that was blasting in every corner of the Highgarden estate. “I’m going to fuck his brains out!”

They shrieked with laughter and cheers as Arya left them. She pushed her way out of the crowded living area with its high vaulted ceiling and shiny polished floor into the kitchen. There she saw at least two of her brothers playing beer pong with their girlfriends but she didn’t even acknowledge them as she continued out the back door.

It was Margaery Tyrells’ summer bash and  _everyone_ was there from Westeros University whether they were young or old, rich or poor. It was the biggest event of the year with seemingly limitless booze and food.

Arya scanned the countless people as she made her way outside. Sansa was flirting with Harry on the brightly lit dancefloor. Even in her drunken state Arya rolled her eyes at the sight of her older sister with her latest douchebag. She had the absolute worst taste in men. It was like she was allergic to decent human beings. Arya hurried past Bran and the Reeds who were huddled around a roaring bonfire. They gestured excitedly for Arya to join but she waved them off with a promise she’d see them later. Arya liked spending time with her little brother and his friends but they weren’t the company she currently craved.  

She wanted Gendry, her best friend. He was strong and honest and funny in his own kind of way even if most people thought he was an asshole. But he was always there when Arya needed him. She trusted him more than just about anyone. She loved him. When Arya was sober she would tell herself she couldn’t do anything about it because if it ended badly their friendship would be ruined. She didn’t think Gendry returned her feelings either. He probably liked some older girl from one of his engineering classes. Arya was afraid of losing him by being stupid. At least sober Arya was afraid. Drunk Arya was fearless.

She found him standing by the pool with Shireen Baratheon and Devan Seaworth. Somewhere a small voice in the back of Arya’s mind whispered how odd that was. Usually Gendry only hung out with his brotherhood; Tom and Anguy and Jack and all the others. Or with her. But rarely his cousin and her boyfriend unless it was a formal Baratheon event. And Gendry avoided those like the plague.

But Arya shrugged off her inner voices concerns. She marched right up to the trio who looked at her curiously. Or at least she thought they did. It was hard to tell. This part of the property was only lit by dim lanterns.

“Hi,” she said to Gendry. She had barely seen him at all this night. They had crossed each other’s paths briefly earlier before being pulled apart by their respective friends. Highgarden was a very large place and it was easy to get lost.

“Hey,” he responded with one raised eyebrow. He looked confused as to why she was talking to him. 

Arya didn’t wait for him to say anything else. She grabbed his strangely clean shaven face and pressed her lips to his.

* * *

Gendry saw red.

“Is Arya kissing…your brother?” Anguy asked, his voice full of amusement.

“I told you to shoot your shot months ago but you didn’t want to listen,” Tom added with a laugh. Gendry ignored them both as he surged forward. He was going to knock that punk out.

“Easy,” a voice commanded grabbing him by the arm. It was Mya, one of his older sisters and she was stronger than she looked. The grip around his arm was unyielding. “Let’s go for a walk, yeah?”

Gendry stared across the yard at Arya wrapped up in Edric’s arms. Her arms were thrown around his neck and she was pressing her chest against his. It was like a car wreck. Gendry didn’t want to look but he couldn’t help it. Mya had to pull him away towards the gardens.

“You were like a bull getting ready to charge,” Mya observed as they walked past perfectly sculpted topiaries and rose bushes. And another young couple making out passionately on a small iron bench. Gendry averted his gaze.

“I’m gonna kick his ass,” he threatened, nostrils flaring, as they approached a ridiculous fountain of a barely clothed cupid spitting water out of its mouth into a pond that held giant goldfish. It probably cost more than Gendry made in a year. Or two.

“You aren’t going to do that. He’s our brother,” Mya reminded him.

“I don’t give a fuck. He just had his tongue in my girlfriend’s-.” Both Gendry’s mouth and legs stopped short. He could feel the embarrassment coursing through his veins where anger had been only a second ago. He was an idiot.

“I’ve had way too much to drink,” he said weakly even though he had only one beer a couple hours ago. But he had to find some excuse for calling Arya his girlfriend when she most certainly was not. Gendry rubbed his scruff covered jaw. He  _wanted_ her to be his girlfriend and had for several years. Arya who was beautiful and fierce and loving. She was the best friend he’d ever have and the most amazing woman he had ever known. He was crazy about her _._ But she was out of his league and definitely only saw him as a friend anyway.

Mya just stared at him sympathetically.

“Did you guys see that?” An all too enthusiastic voice asked before either could say another word.

Gendry groaned as Bella appeared beside him. She must have saw the whole thing and followed them. Bella never knew when to leave well enough alone. She was bouncing excitedly in a pair of heels.

“Fuck off,” he told her with an annoyed huff.

“You fuck off,” she said with a smile and a cheery tone that contradicted her words.

“Look, I don’t know what that was back there but I do know Arya isn’t into Edric like that,” Mya said. “She’s in love with you.”

“Clearly not,” Gendry muttered.

“We can all see it. Even Barra thinks you two are a thing. Because you basically are.”

Gendry though back to the three of them playing house not to long ago. Barra, his five year old sister, had instructed Gendry to be the daddy and Arya the mommy while she would be their baby. Barra adored Arya and vice versa. They often included his baby sister in their hangouts. Gendry had to babysit a lot but Arya never complained. They had gone along with her game happily until his little sister demanded the two of them kiss. That had been awkward. Gendy had wanted nothing more than to kiss her.

His sister had her own evidence too.

“Like when you two were wrestling in the yard the other day?” Bella was saying bringing Gendry out of his memory. “And Arya was all,” She paused dramatically to flip her hair thick black hair and then continued in a breathy voice. “‘Oh Gendry pin me to the ground with your big…hard…body’.”

“Arya does not sound like that,” Gendry said his face was burning but he scowled intensely at her. “And it wasn’t like that at all. We were just playing around. Arya’s been taking some martial arts class.”

“Gendry,” Mya interjected before Bella could continue her mortifying reenactment. “I have way more experience with women than you do so believe me when I tell you Arya wants you.”

Gendry stared at the ground.

“She probably thought Edric was you just now,” Bella offered. “You two are like twins.”

That was true. They got mistaken for each other often despite the obvious differences. They dressed nothing alike for starters. Edric was always in perfectly ironed expensive designer clothes while Gendry wore the same ragged old things he’d had forever. Gendry was usually scruffier in general. But at least he didn’t have Edric’s huge ears. Gendry was slightly bigger than his brother too but besides that they were startling similar in appearance.

From behind, Gendry heard a familiar laugh and whirled to face it.

Arya was dragging Edric behind her with a fierce determination on her face that Gendry knew all too well. Once Arya got something into her stubborn head she was a force to be reckoned with. But she stopped suddenly when Gendry and his sisters came into view. Her face was screwed up. She looked back over her shoulder at Edric and then back at Gendry.

“Wait-” Arya closed her eyes and shook her head. “Gendry?” 

Then she bent over and started throwing up loudly into the bushes.

“Oh fuck!” Edric exclaimed jumping back to avoid getting vomit on himself. Gendry shoved him even further out of the way to grab hold of Arya before she fell face first into the garden mulch. He pulled her hair back out of her face with his free hand. 

“Hey, its okay,” he said softly. Her only response was to vomit more liquor onto the ground. He held her another moment longer until she got everything out. After Arya settled down on the stone pathway. She seemed to be half asleep.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Gendry demanded turning on his brother. “She’s wasted.”

“So am I,” Edric whined. He wobbled unsteadily on his feet. “What the fuck was I supposed to do? She just jumped me out of nowhere and before I could say anything she shoved her tongue into my mouth.”

“Shut up,” Gendry snapped. He did not want or need those details. 

“Bro, chill,” Edric said putting a hand on Gendry’s shoulder. He shrugged it off angrily. They did not have that kind of a relationship. None of them had been raised alongside each other. Hell, they hadn’t even know the others existed until Gendry was thirteen. Edric was Gendry’s half brother. Like Mya, Bella and Barra they all shared the same deadbeat dad. But Edric’s mother was a wealthy socialite while the rest were bartenders, maids and strippers. Unlike his siblings, Edric had never wanted for anything.

“Do not call me bro,” Gendry growled.

“ _Bro_ …” he repeated stubbornly. Gendry looked directly into a pair of blue eyes just like his own. “After she was done sucking my face off she said  _your_ name.”

Gendry exhaled sharply.

“I told you!” Bella squealed. Mya just snorted knowingly.

“Gendry?” Arya murmured from the ground. Gendry looked down at her. She was leaning against his leg with her eyes closed. Gendry knelt down so that he could scoop her up in his arms.

“I got you, Arya.”

* * *

Arya woke up in a bed that wasn’t her own. Her face was buried in someone else’s pillow though it smelled familiar and comforting to her. She was alone and still wearing the same jeans and shirt from last nights party. That was a relief. But someone had taken off her shoes. Arya sat up despite the pain radiating from her skull to every corner of her body. She looked around and realized she knew this place. It was Gendry’s room in the apartment he shared with his three sisters.

Arya tried to remember what had happened but it was mostly a black hole of memory. It made her uncomfortable. Arya usually didn’t drink that much. She couldn’t remember ever getting this drunk before in her twenty years.

Slowly she pulled herself out of Gendry’s bed. On bare feet she went out into the living room. Sun was shining in through the window and Arya winced. There was a pillow and blanket on the couch where somebody had slept but other than that it was pretty tidy.

Arya followed the smell of coffee to the kitchen where Gendry was giving his little sister breakfast.

“Arya!” Barra jumped up from her seat and into Arya’s arms. She hugged the little girl back tightly. Gendry’s little sister was a little thing; still clad in her pajamas with her black hair a mess from sleep.

“Good morning,” Arya said to Barra who was beaming at her.

“Gendry said you’d be sleeping for a long,  _long_ time. I told him he should kiss you like Snow White,” Barra said with a big smile. She was always doing stuff like that. She was small but loved to play matchmaker.

Arya laughed as she sat down at the table but she could see Gendry blushing.  

“And I told her you don’t kiss someone unless they say so first,” he grumbled pouring a cup of coffee. He placed it in front of her before kneeling to Barra’s level. “Why don’t you go play with your dolls,” he suggested lightly. “Let Arya have some quiet time. She doesn’t feel so good.”

Barra skipped out of the room. Gendry went back to the counter. Arya couldn’t help but appreciate the view. He was wearing a tight white tank top and grey sweatpants. He held up a box of cereal and shook it. Arya understood and nodded.

“Did I do something crazy last night?” Arya inquired a few minutes later as she moved the cereal around her bowl. Gendry hadn’t said much to her since she’d woken up. He was acting weird and Arya hadn’t a clue why. The night before was still a blur. She looked down at her knuckles. They were unmarked so she hadn’t fought anyone at least. Arya had a tendency to throw hands when drunk. 

Gendry didn’t say anything. He just stared into his cup of coffee. That made Arya nervous. Gendry was the kind who said whatever came into his head. He did not hold back. Especially not with Arya.

“It was that bad?” All kinds of drunken shenanigans ran through Arya’s head. She could’ve gotten a terrible tattoo or pissed on Olenna Tyrell’s rosebushes or crashed a car. She could’ve had sex with someone. Maybe even Gendry. Arya breathed deeply to calm her nerves.

“You kissed Edric,” Gendry said at last.

“Which one?” Arya asked feeling her stomach sink. She knew two Edrics. One was Edric Dayne; blonde haired, purple eyed, and shy. He ran in the same circle as Gendry but they couldn’t stand each other. Or rather Gendry couldn’t stand Ned. He had been at the party last night. The other…

“My brother.”

Arya groaned and covered her face. Edric Storm was Gendry’s younger brother. They might as well be twins because they looked so similar. They were tall and black haired with the same face. The only difference was the ears.

She had meant to finally let Gendry know how she felt about him but instead she had accidentally made out with his brother.

“I thought…” Arya trailed off as she met Gendry’s eyes. He was staring at her. She had expected anger or disappointment. Gendry and his brother didn’t get along. They reminded Arya of her and Sansa in that regard. Arya didn’t think he’d be happy with her making out with him. But his blue eyes were curious and almost a little hopeful. Arya felt compelled to confess why she had truly kissed Edric Storm. “I thought he was you.”

Gendry nodded.

“That’s what Edric said.” Gendry took a sip of his coffee. “You were so shitfaced,” he added, casually. Arya could tell he was trying to play it off for her benefit. He wasn’t going to hold her to something she had done while under the influence of alcohol. Arya bit her lip.  _I could get out of this now_ , she thought.  _He doesn’t have to know._ But that was the cowards choice. Arya was braver than that.

“I was,” Arya started. She rose from her seat to stand next to Gendry. He was looking up at her now. She pushed his hair out of his eyes and he took a shaky breath. “But…I wanted to kiss you. I mean I always want to kiss you even when I’m not drunk.”

“I wanna kiss you too,” he confessed.

Gendry pulled Arya down onto his lap and Arya wrapped her arms around his neck. They didn’t kiss for a long moment. Gendry rubbed circles on Arya’s back while Arya studied his face. She wanted to get a good look at it. She ran her fingers over his jaw and across cheeks and brows and down the curve of his ears.

“Gendry…” she whispered.

“Yeah. It’s me,” he chucked softly. She moved her lips to his and he met her eagerly. They kissed slow at first. Their lips touching softly and tenderly. This was their first kiss after all. One of Gendry’s hands moved to her hair. He ran his fingers through the strands. The other slipped under her shirt and caressed her skin making Arya shiver. She clutched his shoulders. It didn’t take long before their grew harder and more insistent. Arya gasped as Gendry’s tongue touched her lips. She felt warm all over.

They only broke apart when a loud scream tore through the kitchen. Barra was standing in the kitchen doorway with a doll in her hand and a grin on her face.

“You are kissing!” she shouted. Arya jumped off Gendry’s lap while he quickly adjusted his pants with a quiet groan. “Are you in love? Are you going to get married? Will Arya come live with us?”

Barra continued to babble happily. Arya and Gendry shared a smile.

“I guess my sisters know what they’re talking about,” he admitted to her with a laugh.


End file.
